Mike Nadel: Thome’s birthday wish: Quench championship thirst

Tuesday

Jim Thome is still winning games with his bat, still influencing peers with his attitude and still thirsting for the sweetest sip of champagne baseball has to offer.

Jim Thome is still winning games with his bat, still influencing peers with his attitude and still thirsting for the sweetest sip of champagne baseball has to offer.

Thome, who turns 38 Wednesday, knows this season with the Chicago White Sox might represent his last chance to win the championship that has eluded him for 16 years.

“The hunger ... it burns in me,” he said. “I remember ’97 with Cleveland, almost winning it. It still eats at me.”

Thome and the talented Indians led Game 7 of the 1997 World Series before Florida rallied to tie in the ninth inning; the Marlins won in the 11th. Thome had a good series, with a .965 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, but he grounded into a double play in his final at-bat.

The memories, good and bad, and the desire to celebrate after this season’s final out motivate one of baseball’s hardest-working players every day.

“It’s why you do the things you do to get ready to play,” Thome said. “That burning desire to win when you’ve had a little taste of it ... it’s a powerful thing.”

No, the Pride of Peoria is not quite the automatic 40 homer, 100 RBI guy he once was, but he’s still plenty dangerous.

After homering early Sunday against Tampa Bay, he was walked intentionally in the 10th inning - even though first base was occupied and red-hot Alexei Ramirez was on deck. That’s respect. Ramirez followed with a game-winning single. The next night, Thome’s sixth-inning home run was the difference in Baltimore.

Those home runs gave him 535 in his career and moved him into 15th place on the all-time list. So far this season, he has passed Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews, Ernie Banks, Frank Thomas, Ted Williams, Willie McCovey and Jimmie Foxx. Mickey Mantle is next.

Look at those names. Can you believe there are “experts” who say Jim Thome isn’t a Hall of Famer?

Combine his prodigious power with his nine 100 RBI seasons, his .407 career on-base percentage, his seven top-20 MVP finishes, his consistent productivity over a long career and his standing as a squeaky-clean slugger in the Steroid Era ... well, I have a Hall vote and I plan to check the box next to his name the first day he’s eligible for enshrinement.

OK, hold on. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Cooperstown will have to wait. Thome still has a pennant to pursue this season. Retirement? It’s a dirty word.

“I want to keep playing, for sure,” he said. “I’m having too much fun.”

Unless the White Sox engage in some playing-time hanky-panky - something they wouldn’t even consider doing with him being such an important part of a first-place team, right? - or unless he gets hurt, Thome easily will reach the number of plate appearances necessary to guarantee his contract for 2009 (at $13 million).

“That stuff will take care of itself,” he said. “Besides, this isn’t about me. We’re trying to win a championship.

“But, yes, I do love it here with the White Sox. This is where I want to be. This is home. And this is a great group of guys.”

The feeling is mutual. Asked about newcomer Ken Griffey Jr., Ramirez - a rookie from Cuba who barely speaks English - went out of his way to say he was thrilled to play with Thome. Griffey raves about Thome. So does team captain Paul Konerko. Manager Ozzie Guillen calls Thome “the best person I’ve ever been around in baseball.”

White or black, American or Latino, old or young, upper management or batboy ... everybody loves Jim Thome.

What else is new? He has been winning good-guy awards and finishing atop best-teammate polls for more than a decade. Out in the community, his philanthropic endeavors are legendary.

Having given back so much, it’s nice that Thome will receive such a perfect present for his 38th birthday: a baseball game that matters in the standings.

He’ll spend Wednesday night in Baltimore, doing what he loves most, competing against the pitcher, working hard with his teammates in an effort to take another step on the road to glory.

“I’ve always appreciated the game, but I appreciate it even more now as I get older,” he said. “I feel so proud and blessed to have been able to play as long as I have. What a gift this game is.”

Happy birthday, Jim Thome. And many more.

Mike Nadel (mikenadel@sbcglobal.net) is the Chicago sports columnist for GateHouse News Service. Read his blog, The Baldest Truth, at www.thebaldesttruth.com.